...punctuated by absolute terror

[darwinatrix]

WHO: Olivier and all of the Alaska volunteers
WHERE: Alaska. Duh.
WHEN: Nov. 5
WHAT: Things go splodey
WARNINGS: Injury, explosions?

[At some time on the evening of November 5, as the moon is already high into the air and the northern lights are beginning to dance in the sky, there's a sudden explosion to the south, from the beaches.

Then another, and another, and more in rapid succession: Ten in total, the lights from the blast still visible even several miles from the shoreline.

General Armstrong tosses open the flap of her tent.] What the hell is going on?

[Looking in the direction of the now-disappearing fireballs, her expression hardens.] All hands to high alert. Recall all civilians to the rear camp. Someone get me Captain Ackerman on the radio, and do it five minutes ago.

Comments

Open

[darkpants_warmfeeling]

[When the explosions start going off, Jacob is already awake and on patrol. The politics of the situation and his ambivalence over the Cold War disappears. Jacob reacts on deeply-trained instinct, grabbing the gun Revan made for him and powering it up with his biotics. He scrambles to the top of one of Edward's alchemically-raised fortifications, peering into the evening gloom for a better look at the blasts rippling across the beach.]

Ten shells- big ones, from the looks of it. Hope the recon team's all right.

[He'll keep an eye out for a flare from Levi, just in case.]

[alofts]

[ Tensions were high days in the stake out. The recon camp along the shoreline is painted in pale light of the moon that makes the snow dusted landscape with its thin trees and sea grass spindly, spread out like boneyard frozen in time. Hell broke loose without warning but for a drop in icy pressure around them and a sharp whistle cutting over the water and then everything shattered.

When the bombardment hit a lull, Levi was temporarily deaf and shaken then ground still rocked under his feet even when the camp was ordered to fall back, breaking up in a dead run where survival was the only priority. Levi could barely see out of his darkened vision when his hands reddened with the frost numbly gripped the flare gun and shoved a canister into the barrel.

Yellow smoke fishtailed up over the shore and into the moonlit sky. Yellow was mission terminated - not failed if the red flare didn't follow. His fingers felt like they could shatter in the cold when he fired off the another volley - black smoke after yellow in faded contrast in the night. Black was for aberrant type titans but in the briefing, Levi gave it a new purpose. Full retreat. No formations, no orders it meant assume casualties, react accordingly and then get the hell out of there. ]

Medical Tent - Open

[forsometimenow]

[Explosions were quite the rude awakening.

Jennifer had been dozing on her cot in the medical tent when the first blasts sounded- and before she even stopped to try and find out what was going on, she was out of bed and getting dressed.

She heard General Armstrong's high alert, and decided to get ready in case there were injuries, opening supply cabinets, preparing to marshal her medics in case somebody needed to be picked up and carried back from one of the remote posts.

Her heart was pounding, but this was it- she was in her element when she was healing, and she knew she could keep her head in a crisis.]

[darwinatrix]

[And over Levi's radio will be a voice repeatedly attempting to hail him, one of the non-ImPort soldiers under Armstrong's command.]

Olivier's Tent (open to all officers)

[darwinatrix]

[She drives a knife into the paper at the approximate location of the Russian fleet.]

The Soviets have attacked sovereign territory. That's an act of war, but our recon reports no further aggression or moves to launch a landing party.

This is a test. They're waiting to see how we respond.

[alofts]

[ Static is shrill and the only response at first is hurried, boomerang breaks in static as Levi digs through the snow for where his radio was dropped of knocked off him in the retreat. ]

-ey caught us with our fucking pants down! [ The poor non-imPort solider on the other end winces and reels their head away from the blaring noise coming over the radio. ]

Team scattered and the civilian and non-imPort military personnel operating the base camp aren't doing any better. We could have casualties. Tell Taylor and Armstrong if they're so goddamn worried if my squad can wipe their own asses to get moving!

[justimom]

[ The sound of explosions snapped Samara from her meditation almost immediately. A glow remained around her body as she used her biotics to ascend to where Jacob had positioned himself. ]

If they were able to scatter quickly enough the damage should be minimal. [ Minimal but not non-existent. ] I wonder what has caused them to finally take action.

[darwinatrix]

[The next voice that comes over the line is Armstrong's.] We're mobilizing, Captain. I need a situation report. Are they landing troops?

Get out of the line of fire. Regroup where you can. Medics are on the way to handle casualties.

[alofts]

Shit [ A loud thump as Levi drops to his ass in the cold snow after finding a spot with an unbroken line of site to fish out his binoculars. ]

No. I've got bodies scurrying on deck but no one looking combat ready.

[darwinatrix]

Just a salvo, then? Hm.

All right. Regroup and keep me updated if you need an evac. I need eyes on the water but don't get yourselves killed. We're moving to high alert.

[alofts]

Regrouping with my team comes first if we're not a smoking shit stain under Russian salvo fire then I'll let you know.

[dogsled]

[ Fraser is on the wing as often as he can be following the warning shots, but there is a limit to how long he can spend in the form of a bird without turning himself into one permanently. He stops by during one of his breaks, telling Diefenbaker to stay at the entrance to the tent and then slipping inside, hunting down Jennifer directly. ]

Doctor Keller?

Benton Fraser | Open

[dogsled]

[ Patrolling the ridge is by no means easy; it requires a great deal of steadily steepening climbing in the low temperatures, where each deep breath turns lungs to ice, and at night it's even more difficult, lit only by the light of the full moon. It isn't safe to go alone--or at least it isn't now, after the warning shot, when the Russians might certainly use the advantage of the silver darkness to come ashore, but it's necessary.

Fraser banks up the fire, then turns away from it, approaching the nearest wakeful person. ]

Would you care to accompany Diefenbaker and myself to the top of the ridge?

[forsometimenow]

[Jennifer's glad to see a familiar face, and she comes to meet Benton when she sees him coming.]

Benton, are you okay?

[darkpants_warmfeeling]

[Shit shit shit. Jacob keeps his own voice even on the radio, but the urgency is strong in his words.]

Taylor here. I'm on the way with the medics. I need an estimate on your casualties as soon as you have it.

[darkpants_warmfeeling]

[Jacob looks over as Samara floats up beside him. He's grateful for the company.]

Hell if I know. This whole situation has been like dry tinder from day one. Anything could have been the spark.

[He pauses, listening and looking.]

But they're not really letting us have it right now. Those battleships could have hit us with a lot more than that. Just ten rounds- maybe they were warning shots. Or a distraction.

[huntergames]

[ Sasha manages not to hit the ground when it quakes beneath her feet. She snaps up straight when more explosions rock the area and drown out any communication between her and the rest of the team. She looks around frantically for Levi as she moves further away from the explosions, ready to launch herself away with her 3DMG when the flare goes up, indicating her captain's positions and orders.

Time to move. ]

[justimom]

The spark is most often an important thing to have knowledge of though. Even in an already tense situation.

[ At least it was in most cases. This might not be most cases. She inclines her head just a bit as she looks out. ]

Either are viable options. There is no way for us to determine which until we have a report back from the recon team.

[alofts]

[ When the radio signal goes dead and they're left to their own devices, Levi shoves the device into a tactical pouch holstered to his leg and makes his next move. Moving several hundred yards away from the inland coast and double backing towards the shore running through loosely packed snow capped with hard ice his legs burns and he knows he needs to go aloft soon if he plans on making any headway.

With the flare gun running low on the canisters he happened to have on hand before the shelling started, Levi shoves another canister into the chamber and fires it out once he's covered enough ground and found concealed enough meadow of winter naked trees to hide in. This one is green to signal a change in the formation and to let the others know where the rendezvous point is.

Someone will have to see it either from the ground or in the air. ]

[alofts]

We've fired off a green signal flare. That's our rendezvous point is and where my team has been instructed to take any potential wounded.

[huntergames]

[ She hears the shot go off somewhere in the distance. Once Sasha's out of the line of fire, situated somewhere in a thick cover of trees and bushes with branches weighted down by thick, heavy snow, she unhooks her her from one of the trees, perching herself onto a branch carefully.

Her eyes trail skyward, looking out for any sign of more bombs. Her heart pounds hard, too, half-expecting another bomb to go off at any second.

She can see the flare, but only leaps from the tree, pulling herself froward with her equipment when she ascertains it's safe to head for that point. She moves as fast as she can, conscious of how much gas she uses. When she's close enough to where the signal was fired from, she drops back down to the snow-covered ground and begins running to save gas. ]

[alofts]

[ The snap of atmosphere where gas whistles through the oxygen is as familiar to Levi as the sound of his heartbeat. He watches from the frozen meadow floor as Sasha cuts through the bare treeline, breaking into a dead run to cover the distance. Already a fraying bundle of nerves Levi does not stay stationary and meets his recruit halfway. ]

Made radio contact with Armstrong and Taylor; we have medics inbound to handle the civilians and military volunteers that grabbed the shit end of the stick on this one back at base camp.

[ Levi looks up, surveying the tree lines of black lines stark against the howling white snow for any sign of movement. ]

Where are Isabel and Armin?

[ His priorities begin to narrow along with his vision to a singular point as his heart constricts and his eyes darken, taking a step over Sasha despite their height difference. ]

Sasha! Where is Isabel- !?

[alofts]

I'll fucking say.

[ Levi marches into the tent on a warpath. His short black hair disheveled and parka buttoned to mismatching slots in his hast to arrive after coming off the tail end of the shelling leaving no time to spare. ]

Nothing on my end. Maybe not the time to point fingers, but did someone on the infiltration fuck up?

[huntergames]

[ Loose strands of hair bounce all around her face as she hurries over to Levi. She's relieved to see Levi unharmed, but seeing him alone doesn't ease her concerns. She looks over his shoulder and then over hers to check to see if any of the others are breaking out from the thick row of trees after seeing the flare.

Sasha may stand taller than Levi, but he's always been an imposing figure. They don't call him humanity's strongest soldier for nothing and she remembers the way he handled Historia.

She gulps, unable to help herself from taking a step back. ]

I-Isabel? I didn't see her when we scattered... Armin, too.

[ifnotloyal]

[ And seconds later, he's joined by a dog who stops next to him so suddenly after hauling himself up that he almost teeters right on over. He doesn't, leaning back fast enough to rebalance, but, yeah, that was close. Not that he seems to have noticed his near-tumble, since his attention is focused intently on the area now on fire in the distance. ]

They're still out there? We have to go get them if they are!

[ He may be shouting. Sorry, those were loud and, well, everything loud to a human is about twenty times louder to Ace. ]